Boris and Natasha (1992)

 

I watched this fun if overlong and scattered movie the other night.  The lead stars, Sally Kellerman and Dave Thomas, wisely chose not to sound like their cartoon versions.  It's hard enough not to compare them, but this helped.  Fearless Leader sets up our two "heroes" by sending them to the US as defectors.  His real agent, known as X, is after a time traveling microchip and the inventor of said item.  There are some very funny bits here and there, but it was scattered all over the place, with models and romance... this could work in a weekly serial, when you got two Rocky and Bullwinkle segments at a time.  Moose and Squirrel do make an appearance in here, of a sort, but they don't reveal themselves until the end of the movie.  Speaking of the finale, it is pretty clever.  Yes, it does involve the macguffin of the microchip.

I never did watch this movie when it was available to rent.  It was supposed to be a theatrical release, but was aired on a cable network originally.  The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show had just been released on VHS at the time, and they must have sold pretty well.  I can see why this was made, but even then I think the audience for the movie would be pretty small.  The cast is good, but the concept is a little odd and the script just can't make Boris likable enough.  It's worth a watch, though.